This invention relates to containers, such as shipping containers, for articles having relatively simple shapes. Hundreds of thousands of products such as candles, shock absorbers, flowers, rolls of sheet material, tubes of toothpaste, and so on, are shipped daily, and must be protected from damage. If destined for retail sale, the package should also be attractive and suitable for use at point-of-sale. Yet due to the volume in which many of these products are produced, it is essential that package costs be kept to a minimum.
Some of the costs of a package may not be immediately obvious. Obvious costs, for example, are the sheet material for the package, cutting and creasing the sheet, and folding and erecting the package. However, the cost for the package blank must include the waste material which is discarded when the package is first cut out. A complicated package is also more difficult and time consuming to assemble than a simple one. In addition to these are costs which might be considered hidden, such as strength penalties due to inferior package shape, which then requires heavier material to protect the package contents. To a retailer, another hidden cost would be a package unsuitable for point-of-sale display, thus calling for manual handling and a special display unit.
There is thus a continuing need for containers which provide a maximum amount of strength with the minimum amount of material, which minimize or eliminate wasted material, and which are easy to erect. Such packages should also be versatile, attractive, and convenient for use in a broad range of applications, and should minimize all costs, both apparent and hidden.